But Trini was here. She had to be. Andi had spied Trini’s Mini in its designated spot. Parking was hell around here and sometimes Trini Ubered her way to work just to keep poachers away.
Andi frowned. Maybe she had a class now and wasn’t home. Oh God, no. Right now Andi needed a friend. Someone she could confide in. Someone to cry and scream and rage to.
She pounded on the door again, this time so hard her fist hurt. “Come on, come on,” she said under her breath, willing her friend to answer the damned door.
Could Scott Quade be behind the notes? Were they more his style than the Carreras? But why, why? Why her?
“Trini?” Andi called loudly and hit the door again. “It’s me!” Under her breath, she said, “God, I hope you’re home. Please be home.”
She’d already tried texting and calling her friend’s cell phone, but there’d been no answer. No surprise. Trini often ignored her phone for hours.
“Damn it all!” Frustrated, Andi walked to the end of the wooden landing and looked over the rail. Trini’s apartment had windows facing west and they were covered with miniblinds that were slanted downward but were partially open, offering tantalizing tiny slits of views inside, but it was hard to make out anything. Leaning over the railing, Andi squinted, peering inside Trini’s living room, but she couldn’t get a full picture. It almost looked like someone was sleeping on the couch . . . or maybe that was wishful thinking on her part.
Once more she pounded on the door.
Once more no one answered.
She thought about her friend and remembered she kept a spare key in a magnetic box inside the wheel of her car. If she went searching around her car, would people wonder what the hell she was up to? Probably.
She dialed her friend’s number again. Trini’s cell went straight to voice mail. “Call me, Trini,” she said. Hung up, then exhaled heavily and sent yet another text: I’m here. At your house!
Still nothing.
“Oooh.” She almost threw her phone in frustration. She so needed to talk to someone. Maybe she should just call Luke back, ask to meet him. She knew he was working, but she didn’t know what that entailed. Was it an all-day thing, or could he knock off early? If he even wanted to, she reminded herself. She was going to see him tonight one way or another, so maybe she should just wait for that.
After a few moments of pacing in front of Trini’s door, she called Trini’s workplace and asked if she had a class.
“Finch?” the guy who’d answered the phone asked. “She blew off two classes already today,” he said, sounding pissed.
“She did?”
“Uh-huh. She’s got another one at four, but I’ve been calling her and there’s been no response. None.”
“I’m a friend of hers. This isn’t like her.” At least not when it came to her job.
“No, it isn’t,” he agreed, but he wasn’t happy about it. “We’re scrambling around here, trying to get people to cover for her and . . . oh hell, look, if you find her, she’d better be dead, cuz that’s the only excuse I want to hear why she couldn’t call in.” He clicked off.
Now Andi was nonplussed. Trini had blown off two classes and maybe wasn’t going to make a third? That just didn’t compute. Trini was flaky about certain things, but she took her classes very seriously.
She tried to peer through the window again. Was that a person on the couch? Possibly Trini? She wished there was a light on; it was a dark afternoon and the interior of the apartment was darker still.
She gave up and texted Luke.
My friend Trini missed her classes. Not her usual
MO. Kinda weird. I’m at her apartment. Car’s here
but she’s not.
Maybe she was with Bobby, Andi thought. Trini was seeing him last night and they were supposed to all meet up tonight. Could Bobby talk her into missing her classes, though? Without a heads-up to the club?
A whisper of fear lifted the hairs on Andi’s arms. She didn’t like the way the guy at the club had said she’d better be dead, even though he’d been joking.
“Finch,” he’d said, identifying her to Andi.
Andi stood stock-still. It hadn’t occurred to her during this whole little bird thing that Trini had a last name that was a bird. Trini and Andi had laughed themselves silly when Trini learned that Greg had asked Andi to marry him.
“Jesus, I never thought we’d both be birds,” Trini had said, shaking her head first, then breaking out laughing.
“Birds of a feather stick together,” Andi had responded, and they’d shared a rare moment of hilarity, even though Trini hadn’t really wanted Andi to marry Greg.
It’s too bad when little birds have to die . . .
Andi clenched her teeth. What if something had happened to Trini? Was that too far-fetched to consider? It was crazy. Pointless. But the fear that was filling her veins with ice was very real.
Luke texted back: Where’s the apartment?
Andi checked the address and texted it back to him, adding: I know where a key is.
He responded with: I can be there in thirty minutes?